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Oct.02
12:14 PM ET
Thursday, 2 Oct 2008
Rough Economy: Soap Opera Actress Selling Cemetery Plots (Pt 2)
Posted By:Jane Wells
Topics:Television | Media
Sectors:Media

Judi Evans

This is the second part of the blog from Emmy award winning actress Judi Evans on her "adventures" in selling cemetery plots at Rose Hills Memorial Park in California.

When I began working there I found there were so many concepts to advance planning that had never even crossed my mind. First off, property and funeral are two separate transactions. Having never had to be a part of the funeral planning process I had no idea. Property is property, and like any other property it is subject to inflation. The upside is, with cemetery property, you are not subject to property taxes.

The difference is, no matter what the economy, people will always need to be buried. You know the old adage; nothing is for sure except death and taxes. The advantage to pre-planning is to lock in at today's prices because by the time you may need property or funeral, the price will probably be double, or even triple what it is today. And, not to be prejudiced, but Rose Hills is the most picturesque memorial park I have ever seen. It is also the largest, in not only the United Stated, but in the world. To top it off, of all the property Rose Hills owns in the close to 100 years of operation, it has only used about half.

In essence, I now have the opportunity to get people thinking about the future, and the future of their families, and help them find a sound financial way to plan and fund their funerals and procure cemetery property. As much as I love acting, and I do, it brings me a great deal of pleasure to interact directly with people and also help them along life's journey.

Still new to this business, I often wonder what my reaction will be when I eventually walk into someone's house, and they gasp and call out one of my character names and ask me what I'm doing there. So do I say, "Yes I was such and such character on that show, but now I'm here to help you plan you funeral", or do I offer them an autograph if they buy cemetery property? I haven't quite worked that one out. Seriously though, I've always felt blessed, and now I can pass those blessings along as well."

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